


Well, except Bruce Wayne's parents.

by pertha



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-22
Updated: 2013-06-22
Packaged: 2017-12-15 18:13:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/852527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pertha/pseuds/pertha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint's the only one not surprised when the truth comes out. After all, no one dies and stays dead in comic books.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Well, except Bruce Wayne's parents.

Clint grew up reading comic books. Batman, Superman, even old Captain Americas. He idolized Dick Grayson, and had a huge crush on Zatanna. When he was a kid he dreamed of joining the Justice League, a dream he held on to for an embarrassingly long time. If the Green Arrow could be a superhero, why couldn’t he? Then a man with a suit and a kind smile gave Clint a chance, and Hawkeye came closer to being a superhero than he ever thought possible. 

When Hill broke the news to the team that Agent Coulson wasn’t actually dead, but in a SHIELD ICU facility outside Atlanta, Clint wasn’t that surprised. He had suspected from the beginning (it wasn’t denial, he just knew). Nobody had seen the body, there were no witnesses other than Fury, and it was a typical Fury move to get them to actually work together. And it worked, so Clint didn't know why Stark was acting so butt-hurt about the whole thing.

What does surprise him, makes Natasha do a double take and even stuns Tony Stark into silence, is the letter of resignation that Coulson turns in the day he leaves the hospital. It’s very professional, very detached and he gives a two week notice. There’s an official reason given, but within a day it’s over taken by the rumor that he quit because of what Fury did to his Captain America cards. Some things, everyone agrees, just can’t be forgiven. 

They don’t keep in touch, Clint and Coulson. Clint doesn’t even know where the man went. He has his suspicions but doesn’t ask. Doesn’t want to ask. It’s a security issue, he tells himself. He can’t give up intel he doesn’t have. If Natasha exchanges post cards and late night phone calls with their former handler she keeps it to herself. Besides, he’s busy. Running around saving the Earth doesn’t leave much time for correspondence. 

It’s not until after Detroit, after he sets off a sonic arrow and blows out his eardrums saving the shittiest city in America that Clint lets himself miss Coulson. Miss Phil. He sits in his hospital bed and just feels sorry for himself. His ears itch and his body aches and he knows he’ll never hear again. He wishes the nurses would quit smiling because they don’t smile right. They don’t smile like him. 

Natasha stalks in after lunch on his second day in the infirmary. She tosses a large manila envelope with a Portland postmark at him, says something he can’t hear but understands perfectly, and stalks back out. The envelope is full of cards. All handmade, in crayon and marker on cheap construction paper. The skill levels of spelling and penmanship vary, but they are all along the same line. Sorry you got hurt. Hope you feel better soon. The last one he pulls out is the biggest, unfolding to poster size. A banner across the top reads Get Well Soon, from Mr. Coulson’s 1st Grade Class. Below that is a self portrait of twenty cartoony children. In the back of the group is a cartoon man in a suit and a kind smile.


End file.
